Merry Merry Pezberry
by Jinxgirl
Summary: Ficlets, sequel to You are the piece of me (I wish I never need). Fluffy Christmas epilogues. Taking place about a year and a half later. Pezberry.
1. Chapter 1

"You're so warm…don't move."

Rachel smiled to herself softly, but didn't even consider not heeding her girlfriend's murmur. There was no denying her what she wanted when she her body was relaxed half over top of her own, heavy and comforting in its weight, her voice fuzzy and slightly slurred with her sleepiness. When her girlfriend was too tired to even mock her clothing, or to point out the irony of Rachel being the one who's body temperature was warmer in the moment, when she usually complained about her cold hands and feet and nose, she knew that she should simply accept and take advantage of her cuddliness rather than draw attention to it.

Her warmth was, of course, due to the fact that she was wearing footie pajamas, the very same that Santana usually did not fail to smirk and roll her eyes at, these particular ones festively clad with holly sprigs and with attached jingle bells at the toes, in keeping with the upcoming holiday season. Santana, in contrast, was wearing only tiny boi shorts and a snug t-shirt, without socks, and Rachel shuddered slightly, feeling her cold feet even through her own pajamas. She had lost count of how many times she had sought to helpfully inform Santana that she would be warmer in the New York City bitter winters would she simply dress appropriately for them, whether or not she considered appropriate wear to be "dorky," but every time Santana simply gave her an impish grin as she replied.

"I got you to keep me warm, what else do I need?"

And Rachel couldn't deny that it was nice to be wanted in this way. Still, it didn't keep her from worrying about Santana catching a serious illness or getting frostbite one day because of her insistence on fashion.

To try to further warm her, she rubbed her hand over Santana's back and arms, trying to create friction to heat up her skin, and when Santana groaned softly, burrowing her cold nose into the crook of Rachel's neck, Rachel gave a faint shiver, but smiled, turning her head to kiss the top of Santana's. She could see the faint glow of colored lights from the Christmas lights wound around their headboard reflected off the other girl's face, and she wrapped her arm around her more securely, allowing for Santana, for once, to be the one held. Looking down at her, a bit awkwardly from their current positioning, Rachel's free arm slowly stroked through her hair, and she thought to herself with intense feeling and love how very proud she was of Santana, of how very far she had come in the past year and a half- and how proud she was of herself as well.

Santana had, despite her mental and physical health problems in their last couple of years of high school, finished at the top of the class, right up there with Quinn and Rachel herself, although not quite as high as either of them- due not to ability, Rachel was sure, but slightly less effort and tendency to let herself more often become distracted, both by lesser will and by her more serious health concerns. Rachel had, through sustained effort and focus, and a lifetime of preparation, managed to secure her placement in her musical theater college of choice, and Santana had, after endless debate and self-doubt, applied and been accepted into a smaller but well-respected liberal arts university also in New York City. Although she still was unsure of what she wanted to be, she had access to participating in any of the arts she might choose and perfecting her skills, and she also had access to becoming a lawyer or "something with kids, maybe," two choices she was also considering. Rachel was not worried that she would eventually be able to choose. After all, they were barely nineteen, and Santana had so many talents that Rachel could certainly see how it might be difficult for herself to limit herself to only extensively pursuing one.

Still looking down at her, Rachel ran a hand gently over Santana's back and then down her side, tracing the curve of her hip and the inward slant of her waist. When Santana stirred slightly, starting to lift her head, Rachel hummed to her softly, guiding it back down, and resumed stroking her, leaning her head downward to whisper in her ear.

"Shhh, you can sleep, sweetie. You're just so beautiful…and I'm so proud of you."

And she was. Santana had been maintaining her weight, pretty consistently, with only one slip since her major scare in senior year. When she and Rachel had first started school in the city, between the stress of the move, her anxiety over her new adulthood and responsibilities, and her adjustment to school and her new schedule, Santana had started to avoid meals again and to lose weight, dipping below the level that she, her mother, and her doctors had agreed upon as healthy for her. But this time, when Rachel confronted her, as soon as she had begun to notice, Santana had not only admitted but agreed that she was struggling- and she had without anyone twisting her arm sought out help again. She had clung to Rachel for support, trusting her girlfriend to tell her whether what she was intending to eat was a normal meal or not, and she had swallowed her pride to begin to see the counselor at school, who had then referred her to a therapist in the city to see regularly. She was still seeing the woman and calling her mother regularly, sometimes every day, on a particularly stressful week, and her weight was currently stable and had been for some time.

Now it was soon to be Christmas, their first Christmas together as adults, away from their families and their usual traditional roles. Of course, they would soon be traveling home together to celebrate with them, but it was the first year that they would be guests rather than center and a part of all holiday celebrations from the end of Thanksgiving well into the new year, and until that time came, Rachel savored every moment she still had alone with her. She could not imagine being more proud of her or more in love with her, finding her more beautiful than she had this year- or even in this moment.

As she continued to gently run her fingers through Santana's hair, she heard the other girl begin to stir, yawning into her neck. When Santana spoke, her voice was even more sleepy and run together than it had been before, and Rachel suppressed a smile, straining to hear her.

"Rachel…?"

"Yes, baby? What is it?" Rachel whispered back to her, and she heard Santana yawn loudly again- but this time, she could hear that part of the sleepiness was put on.

"Rachel…what did you get me for Christmas….?"

Rachel laughed, shaking her head, even as she scolded Santana, giving her a little nudge reprovingly.

"Oh no, Santana, your sleepy voice isn't going to trick me into slipping up just because you know I find it adorable. I will not be telling you one little hint about what you're getting for Christmas. You will simply have to wait and see for yourself."

"Damn it," Santana muttered, her voice louder and much more coherent and alert now, and Rachel laughed, squeezing her shoulder affectionately.

"I won't tell you what I got you for Christmas…but you can have me for now," she dropped her voice into a whisper, pressing a kiss into the crook of her shoulder and thrilling when Santana shuddered with pleasure.

Cuddling her close, she lifted Santana's chin gently to meet her lips in a kiss, opening her legs for the other girl to fit more easily in between them as she more fully lay across her. When the jingle bells on her toes chimed, Santana broke out snickering, but this was quickly cut off by Rachel's lips, and she didn't seem to mind at all.


	2. Chapter 2

"Come back here- you are NOT leaving without your coat!"

Rolling her eyes, Santana didn't even bother to turn around to face her girlfriend as she continued to walk towards the front door, simply calling back to her somewhere over the direction of her shoulder.

"Yeah I am. It's not THAT cold."

"Santana, it is twenty degrees outside, the wind is blowing, and there is snow on the ground!" Rachel countered her, her tone louder than was strictly necessary and rather scandalized. She caught up to Santana from behind, taking hold of her elbow and tugging her back towards her so the other girl was facing her as she continued to lecture. "It's bad enough that you're wearing those horrible heeled boots with that skinny little heel instead of those nice sturdy ones I bought you for your birthday, the ones that offer a sensible height in heels along with proper thickness of the heel to counterbalance any slips you might encounter and also more reasonably protect your ankle from twisting should this still occur. They provide proper protection and support of your foot in various wintry weathers that New York City has to offer and they are certainly attractive in appearance as well and go with nearly every outfit if I do say so myself. I spent considerable time picking those out, Santana, and you only wear them if I make you-"

"I wore them last week without you making me…once," Santana protested, but even she knew this was not acceptable to Rachel.

Rachel didn't even bother to argue with her, simply plowing ahead where her impassioned speech to her had left off.

"As I said it is bad enough you refuse to wear appropriate shoewear in this weather, but I will certainly not allow for you to catch your death of pneumonia or perhaps hypothermia because you are simply too stubborn to properly dress for the December weather! We aren't on our parents' insurance anymore, Santana, and although your father is a doctor, he lives hours away, we wouldn't be able to afford the bills if you were to become seriously ill for the sake of fashion!"

"Oh, so it would be about the money and not your deep concern for my health and well-being that shakes you up then, is that it?" Santana lifted an amused eyebrow, chuckling, but even this didn't get a rise or provoke a flustered, apologetic response from Rachel, as she had hoped for and expected. And that more than anything told her that the other girl really was getting riled up over this, that she was taking this very seriously indeed.

"Santana, this is not a joking matter! You need to wear your coat at the very least and more reasonably you would also wear gloves, a scarf, and a hat!"

Santana looked Rachel up and down pointedly, her gaze lingering first on Rachel's large, puffy jacket, which she was wearing instead of the nice, sleek black coat that she had gotten her last year- this one, she insisted, though less visibly attractive, was also warmer and more wind resistant. She let her eyes slide to the purple wool hat jammed over her head, causing her hair to stick out with static electricity, the matching scarf knitted with snowflakes, and the little purple gloves with animals knitted on each fingertip, all the way down to the "sturdy" boots that she found so very boring. Beneath the puffy coat, she knew, were at least two likely animal print sweaters, and although Rachel might be warmer than the average desert-dweller at the moment, she also looked nowhere near how Santana herself wanted to.

"I got it covered, Rach. I'll be fine."

"Santana, you're shivering already and I saw you sniffle two minutes ago, and we haven't even left the house yet," Rachel pointed out, sighing. "If you're cold within our home, which admittedly is not exactly warm and toasty in temperature but certainly doesn't contain the rigors of New York wind and snow, then you will certainly not be fine temperature-wise to walk down its sidewalks without anything covering your arms and legs but your own skin."

"You're imagining things," Santana groaned, even as she gave an involuntary shiver which she quickly tried to hide by throwing her arms out wide, attempting to distract Rachel's all-too-sharp eyes from noticing. "Not everyone dresses like they're about to walk on foot to the North Pole to walk from their bedroom to their refrigerator."

"Firstly, I don't believe it would be a physical possibility for someone to walk from New York to the North Pole, I do believe there are various bodies of water in the way. Also the distance would take a considerable sum of years and you are certainly not properly equipped to handle the various struggles you would encounter," Rachel mused, momentarily distracted by her own mental calculations. "I suppose I could look up whether the effort has been made, but I am quite certain that even if it has, you would not do so."

"You saying you don't believe in me, Estrella?" Santana mock pouted, poking out her lip at her. She knew that this was generally a good way to further distract Rachel from the conversation at hand and to tilt the dynamics more towards her own liking- to pluck at the other girl's guilt strings. She regarded her with the most wounded look she could summon, and sure enough, Rachel started to backpedal, coming forward to look into Santana's eyes as she spoke with her earnestly.

"Oh no, Santana, I'm not saying that at all. I certainly do believe in you. I believe you can do anything you wish to as long as it's not physically impossible. But sweetie, you do have to admit that if you truly wished to walk all the way to the North Pole, you certainly could not do so in your current outfit, the eventual pain of your limbs and toes and fingers when you began to accumulate hypothermia and frostbite would be horrible and- and you are laughing at me, death from extreme cold is no laughing matter, Santana Lopez!"

"I'm sorry," Santana snickered, shaking her head as she tried and failed to stop herself. "It's just…wow, Rachel, you're so easy."

"You were attempting to distract me, but this is truly no laughing matter. If you go out there dressed like this and you get sick, then you'll want me to take care of you, you KNOW how you are when you are ill, Santana. Then because there is no one else around to care for you, all duty will by default fall onto me, and even if I take the utmost cautions to sterilize myself, then I could get sick. And if you get me sick, it could damage my voice, and you KNOW the Christmas showcase is next week, and certainly your voice will need to be utilized in your classes as well-" Rachel began to nearly rant, even as Santana continued to snicker at her, no less amused despite Rachel's obvious growing agitation.

"Rachel. Baby, you're so loaded with vitamins and vaccinations at this point it would take the black plague to take you down. You'll be fine and so will I. Let's go already, we're gonna be running late if you don't get yourself together." She looked Rachel over critically, her brow furrowing. "Is that really what you're gonna wear? Your real outfit is under all that…right?"

"Yes, this is what I am really going to wear, Santana. It's festive, and it's warm, and it's weather appropriate. As your outfit would rightfully be too, if you would only listen to me," Rachel informed her. "Santana, it's just for the walk over, you can take it all off as soon as we're at the party."

"No," Santana told her, the word flat, short, and final. She started towards the door, her hand on the doorknob as she looked back at Rachel, waiting for her to join her.

"Santana-"

"No! I'm not going out to the only Christmas party of the year we sort of halfway got an invitation to swaddled up like a freakin' burrito where no one can see this awesome dress that I spent three paychecks on!" Santana exclaimed, her voice rising slightly with her exasperation.

Rachel's mouth opened, then closed, and she shook her head, muttering to herself almost as much as to Santana. "Okay, one, that amount of money should have gone towards our rent and utilities, or towards your education, or at the very least something you can survive in if you accidentally locked yourself out of the apartment again while wearing it. Two…sweetie, again, you can take it off once we're there, and hide your coat somewhere so no one will ever know you even had it, if that is the impression you want to give off. Although why you would want to give off the impression that you are impenetrable when it comes to the cold, I have no idea."

She paused, taking steps towards Santana, and looked her directly in the eyes, her own large, soft, and pleading as she reached for Santana's hands, holding them in her own gloved ones and squeezing gently as she lowered her voice.

"Please, baby? Please wear a coat, at least? For me?"

Santana squirmed, not pulling her hands away, but trying to avert her eyes. She bit the inside of her cheeks, her cheeks flushing even as Rachel lifted her hands to her lips, kissing the back of each.

"Hey…stop it. That's not fair. Don't do the eyes…and the KISSES, come on, Rachel, how is this fair?!"

"Please…" Rachel deliberately kissed both hands again before looking back up at her, letting her lip poke out in a pout to match the puppy dog eyes. "Please, Santana?"

"Rachel Berry, I swear…" Santana grumbled, but even before she verbally relented, Rachel could see in her eyes that she was wavering. As the other girl exhaled out loud, her shoulders slumping, Rachel tried to hide a grin.

"Okay, fine, but no hat, it took me forever to straighten my hair just right. And don't you DARE try to make me hide my awesome nails in gloves."

"Thank you, dear," Rachel did smile at her now, trying not to let her expression become overly smug.

She leaned in to kiss her lips, gently at first, then a little more firmly, until Santana's eyes were bright, her smile something more like a grin when she pulled back from her.

"Damn…kiss me like that and I can guarantee I'll be warm, coat or no coat."

Both girls were smiling as Santana slipped on her coat and opened the door, gesturing for Rachel to give her her hand. And when Rachel took one of Santana's ungloved hands in both of subtly cupping it and rubbing her thumb over its back in an effort to keep it warm as they walked through it, Santana did not pull away, but instead, stepped closer, perhaps not so unconsciously seeking to share her heat.


	3. Chapter 3

Present

"Santana, I just don't understand how me dressing up as a present benefits anyone…"

Rachel blinked down at the outfit she was wearing uncertainly, smoothing her hands with doubt and unease over her sides. That is, the boxy exterior around her abdomen now covering her sides. Through Santana's starry-eyed vision and persistent instruction and physical assistance, she had managed to find a box, sans an opening or flaps at the top, large enough to cut holes for her arms and legs, and it now served as a sort of covering for her breasts, torso, and backside, with her arms and legs sticking out. The box has been covered with festive wrapping paper decorated with striped candy canes and adorned with ribbons and bows on all sides. Her arms and legs were wrapped in carefully entwined ribbons, her feet were covered with striped socks adorned with a jingle bell at each ankle, and a large red bow was tied in her hair. The intended effect, of course, was to portray a brightly wrapped Christmas, and based on Santana's wide grin, she was entirely enchanted and satisfied by how her mental image of the creation had turned out live before her.

Or maybe she just found it all really amusing, a very likely second possibility.

"Oh, trust me, Rachel, you dressing like this benefits ANYONE who lays eyes on you," Santana assured her, laughing lightly. She took a step closer to her, lightly running her fingertips up one beribboned arm, even as she nudged her knee into Rachel's. "But mostly, it benefits me."

"I look so silly, Santana," Rachel continued to frown down at herself, fussing with one of the bows on the box around her waist. "I certainly couldn't go out in public like this."

"Well, duh, Rachel, and I don't want you to. This is for my eyes only…at least it better be.

A brief flicker of a jealous frown crossed Santana's face at the very thought of otherwise, and she shook her head, seeming to be physically trying to shake herself of this thought. She continued to lightly rub her fingers over Rachel's arm, as though to stake claim against people who weren't even present, as Rachel kept speaking, pointing out different aspects of her costume that were causing her discomfort.

"All these ribbons, Santana…I know I asked you to make certain they wouldn't cut off my circulation, but if I moved improperly they very well could shift and do so, you know, it certainly is a hazard. I couldn't go to sleep dressed like this by any means-"

"Well, yeah, Rachel, I've never heard of anyone trying to sleep with a friggin' cardboard box strapped around their waist!" Santana laughed, shaking her head, but Rachel continued on, still seeming to be taking the entire situation very seriously.

"And my legs are so…so exposed…"

"Rachel…baby, that is NOT a bad thing," Santana assured her, still shaking her head. She cupped Rachel's face in hers, seeming to be leaning towards her for an intended kiss…but Rachel was still talking.

"And this is so…it's just very uncomfortable, Santana. I feel if I move incorrectly then everything I'm wearing will simply fall off of me."

"Rachel…that ain't a bad thing either," Santana assured her. "Actually, that's sort of the point."

"It is?" Rachel blinked, startled, and Santana nodded vehemently, her lips still quirking into a partial smirk, partial smile, dark eyes glinting intently.

"Oh yeah. If you're so uncomfortable…believe me, I'm happy to help you take it all off."

She leaned in to kiss Rachel, having to maneuver strangely around the boxy device about her middle, and as Rachel kissed her back, somewhat restrained at first, then more eagerly, her hand twining in Santana's hair, she nevertheless pulled back after a few moments, looking down at herself with concern.

"Santana, you're squashing the box in and pulling at the ribbons!"

"Don't care, it's all gonna be ripped off in two minutes or less anyway," Santana breathed, leaning in to kiss her again. For another few moments Rachel closed her eyes, lost to the feeling of her hands, the taste of her tongue on hers- and then she pulled back, widening her eyes.

"You just made me spend over an hour dressed up like a Christmas present, just so you could rip it off in two minutes or less?"

"What did you think the point of this was?" was Santana's question, rolling her eyes at her lightly as her hand continued to caress Rachel's face and neck, and when Rachel paused, considering this, her face started to flush.

"Um…I suppose that is a good question."

When Santana leaned in for yet another kiss, the hand not cupping Rachel's face beginning to tear apart ribbon and wrapping, wrecking their careful work in mere seconds, Rachel's free hand began to help her the best she could. In between kisses, she gasped out, "The…the th-things I do for you, Santana Lopez…"

"The things you do TO me," Santana murmured, continuing to give her short, brief kisses in between each murmured word. "The things…you do…to my body…"

Rachel gave a breathless laugh against her lips, and Santana smiled, feeling the vibration of the laughter thrum over her lips and heat the rest of her skin to her core. She pulled Rachel closer to her, as close as was possible with the remnants of box and gift wrap around her, as Rachel laughed again, attempting to help her tear the pieces of the box further apart.

"I feel as though I should be saying a Christmas themed saying of some kind at this time…perhaps…merry Christmas to all and to all a good night? God rest ye, merry gentlemen…or perhaps gentlewomen, in this case? God bless us everyone?" she mused, just before Santana descended on her lips again, pulling back only enough to catch her breath and respond wryly in between near gasps.

"Merry Christmas to me, anyway…God bless me…and this is DEFINITELY gonna be a night without rest…"


End file.
